


The Devil's Picture Book

by bubblebangbaby



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, gratuitous tarot nerdery, p5exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 11:12:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14933145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblebangbaby/pseuds/bubblebangbaby
Summary: At the threshold of a new stage in life, Ren gives Yusuke an auspicious tarot reading.





	The Devil's Picture Book

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leyacer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leyacer/gifts).



> I got... a little too into the tarot part of this story. Hopefully, it's enjoyable regardless! The deck in this fic is the classic Thoth deck; you can see images of all the cards [here](https://supertarot.co.uk/). For the one person out there who knows this deck and the extremely complicated system associated with it: I know, I know, he's Doing It Wrong. Do you know how hard it is to find a Japanese translation of the Book of Thoth, though?

“Tarot cards?” Ren feels Yusuke’s sharp chin dig into his shoulder as he leans forward to get a better look at the deck in his hands. He smiles to himself and nuzzles his cheek a little.

“Mm-hmm. Chihaya sent them. Housewarming gift, I guess.” Ren can see his fascinated look from the corner of his eye, and presses the deck into his hands so he can take a proper look. “Here.”

“Ah...” Yusuke takes them so carefully, like something delicate and breakable instead of simple cardboard, sits down at the little kitchen bar to examine them one by one. Ren picks his coffee back up and leans against the edge of the table to watch. He seems so calm, but Ren can feel the excitement that must be boiling in him, can see it in the set of his lips, the way he traces the lines of certain images as though to commit them to memory, the way his sharp gaze is fixed, unwavering. He presses the warm cup to his lips but doesn’t drink; he’d rather drink in the look on his boyfriend’s face instead.

“I take it you like them?” Yusuke doesn’t look up. A handful of cards are lined up neatly, as though for comparison, a few others spread out in front of him as he methodically pulls each one from the pile for inspection.

“They’re interesting. I’ve not seen tarot imagery interpreted in this style—midcentury abstraction, with a nod toward cubism, it seems. The desaturation of the watercolour is also unusual, bright colours are usually more favored, are they not?” Ren starts to answer, but he can’t get a word in edgewise now, Yusuke’s picking up steam. “There’s a naivete to many of the images, but taken as a whole with the rest, something dynamic emerges...” Ren sips at his coffee and just listens. He’s veering off now down lanes of technicality where Ren can’t hope to follow, but it doesn’t matter so much. The cadence of his voice when he’s excited like this is sweet music.

But he recognizes the cards Yusuke keeps coming back to, and laughs under his breath to see them. The Fool. The Lovers. The Universe. The Ace of Cups. The Star. Does he remember, then, how these cards could be read to relate back to him, to them both? Or is it an unconscious thing, just the appeal of the art?

Ren runs his fingertips along his lover’s hand as it hovers over the last card he’s turned over. The Princess of Disks, a feral girl emerging from the woods, a soul on the edge of transformation. He smiles. “Shall I read them?”

“For me?”

“Of course. Need to break this deck in, after all.” He doesn’t actually need to, not like this, anyway. But Yusuke is so clearly smitten with the paintings on the cards, and it leaves Ren smitten with Yusuke all over again.

“Very well, then. I am in your hands, my love.” He sweeps the scattered cards up and into a neat stack, hands it over to Ren with a flourish and bow that’s only a little bit sarcastic. It’s far from the first time he’s been Ren’s fortune-telling guinea pig, after all. Ren just laughs fondly and takes the deck to shuffle it thoroughly, overhand then riffling, again and again until he feels the tug of satisfaction in his chest that tells him he’s done. He hands the stack of cards back to Yusuke, who cuts them once, again, three times, and pushes the chosen section of the deck back across to Ren. It’s a practiced little dance, familiar and meditative, and it always soothes them both, sets their hearts to beating in unison once again.

Ren takes the little stack and spreads it out in a neat arc for Yusuke to choose from. He always does this with such consideration, so slow and careful, long-fingered hands hovering over the proffered display as though weighing each and every choice. One by one, he plucks cards from their places in the arc and hands them to Ren to arrange. One by one, they’re laid out in their proper places, three cards in a triangle, with a fourth card set above its point.

He flips over the first card, the position of the past.

Ten of cups, but an arrangement of it that’s unusual. Instead of a sweet pastoral scene crowned by a rainbow of blessings from the heavens, golden goblets are arranged in a top-heavy pattern, spilling their golden light across a background of a stylized red lotus. Ren laughs softly, the symbolism so obvious it almost hurts. In his other deck, this card would herald a happy family, a rich life filled with harmony and peace. In this deck, the card practically has his name written on it. And that warm and loving family life he’s so used to seeing from the ten of cups… Well, getting the apartment was certainly a step towards that. It’s still a mess, and the cramped rooms are half full of boxes, half strewn with canvases, but he’s never seen Yusuke so content as in the past few weeks. Like a pain he’d long grown used to was finally starting to ease.

He shakes his head fondly and flips the next card, the present. Prince of Wands. Ah, also obvious. For the longest time, Yusuke appeared in his readings as the Emperor, and it was becoming of him then. Stoic, yet fierce; passionate yet hopelessly rigid. That’s not who he is now. The years have both softened him and unleashed him. In crumbling bits and bloody, jagged pieces, he’s broken free from the unforgiving expectations and long shadow of Madarame. He’s most often the knight or king of wands now, full of creative fire and stepping up to a new throne that he’s forged on his own terms. And this version of the card… It’s something wild and awe-inspiring, a man shining like the sun and driving a chariot of crystal, at ease in his power, his eyes challenging. The same eyes he meets when he looks up from the cards.

He turns the third card, the future. Nine of cups. Unlike the ten, the pips on this card are neatly stacked and upright, fat goblets overflowing with golden light. And there are lotus blossoms here too, twining around and hovering over each of the cups, pouring more light down into them. The implication forces him to stifle a snicker. Though the image is once again different, this card lines up neatly with its counterpart in his old deck. Abundance. Every need filled, every want indulged, days of anxiety and hunger fixed firmly in the past, where they belong.

Yusuke makes a soft, impatient sound that breaks Ren from his reverie. “Well?” he asks, “Usually you talk through this process. Am I to assume this deck is spelling out a doom you would prefer not to relate to me?” Ren just laughs softly.

“No, it’s… I didn’t expect this deck to be  _sappy._ ” He laughs again and takes Yusuke’s hand, kissing his knuckles softly as he goes back over the cards, explaining their message of hope and sweetness. He watches out of the corner of his eye as Yusuke’s expressions change from impatience, to awe, to flushed-faced delight.

“And the final card?” he asks, lightly touching the crowning card, still hidden. With a flourish, Ren flips it over.

The Lovers.

Yusuke’s eyes widen and a small, wry smile blooms across his face. “I don’t think you need to explain this one...”

“No, I don’t, do I?” With a quick gesture, Ren gathers up the rest of the deck and stacks it neatly, but leaves the spread where it is. Yusuke is still admiring the sweeping bombast of the Lovers card as Ren slips silently around the kitchen bar to embrace him from behind and plant a soft kiss on his neck. “I think they’re trying to tell us something, don’t you?” Yusuke turns a bit, tips Ren’s chin up with one finger so he can kiss him properly, a soft chuckle honey-sweet on his lips.

“Who am I to argue with prophecy, then?”

**Author's Note:**

> I really, really wanted to use the seven-card spread that Chihaya uses in-game, but it was just... too much :( There are only so many card descriptions someone can sit through without their eyes glazing over. The 3+1 spread I used instead is one I cobbled together myself, though I'm sure I'm not the only one to use something like it. 
> 
> Want a reading that definitely won't be as sweet and fluffy as this one? Hit me up on [tumblr.](bubblebangbaby.tumblr.com)


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